Nobody pays you any attention

Believe me, nobody pays you any attention, really. Nobody. Don’t you believe that? That’s fine. Still, I am going to share with you what I discovered about blogging and attention. Attention is like respect: you must earn it.

In other words, you must do something in order to be paid attention. Attention requires sowing, cultivating and nurturing. Attention is a crucial ingredient for the impact you are making on your readers. Without that attention, blogging is pretty pointless.

Your readers see your blog online. Somewhere on a screen: a phone, an iPad, a laptop or a desktop. Your readers look at that screen, in a car, in a train, in bed first thing in the morning, or during a lunch break at work. In short: you have no clue about where your readers are reading, and neither about how much attention they are paying, with all of the distractions around them. Are your readers actually paying any attention at all to what they see on that screen? Or are they still thinking about that sick child at home, that big domestic they had with their spouse, or that annoying telephone conversation with a client. The bad news is: you have no clue!

Chances are that the attention level your readers are reading with is pretty superficial. And well, how much of your valuable message will actually sink in with your readers?

While your readers are paying little attention, there will be no connection between them and you. Your message will be lost on them. Your readers will have all the freedom and space to stay mentally disconnected and continue reading in superficiality. this means there is no necessity or good motivation to do something withy your valuable contribution, your important message, or your simple solution, which you are sharing on your blog with conviction, best intentions and passion.

Deep down, you full well know that your reader is probably not going to do with your solution. And, worse of all, this also means that you will not be perceived the expert that you are. When your reader is not motivated to actually take action on what you’re sharing, then the reader won’t experience any results from it, either. And this is your fault, is what that reader will be thinking, consciously or subconsciously. Just so you know 🙂

How can you sow, cultivate and nurture your readers’ attention?

Here comes the good news. You can sow attention, cultivate attention and nurture it by the way you structure your blog posts. The most important factor of attention, you see, is recognition. Or resonance, if you like. The three elements that feed recognition and resonance in your blog, should appear in a logical order in your blog post:

the problem

the consequences

the solution

When your reader reads the problem, and recognises that this is an issue that’s part of his or her life, then attention will grow automatically. This is sowing attention. Here you can read what I mean by ‘problem’, by the way.

This attention is further cultivated by describing the consequences of that problem (and for the duration that this problem persists). This touches on the underlying emotion of that problem and it’s continued existence, which is something the reader will recognise, too. You know only too well what’s bugging your clients, fans and readers. You know their problems, challenges, frustrations, and pain points. This is cultivating attention.

All you need to do to establish their recognition and resonance, is describing those consequences, and in doing so, cultivating their attention. What you wish to achieve is that your readers who is in the middle of reading this will think “Crap, that’s true. That’s exactly how it feel” or “Sh*t, too right, I want to stop this, how do I do that?” And that is the exact same moment where the reader is highly motivated to not only read your solution… but also take action! That is nurturing attention

That’s all. It is that simple. That’s all it takes to capture your reader’s attention and to offer the necessary motivation to read what you have to offer. So, what I’m wishing for you, is to experience this for yourself. Go, try it out… and make sure you get the attention you deserve!

It’s your turn now 😉 Share in your comment what it is you want to do to sow, cultivate and nurture your readers’ attention. Your comment will also help and motivate other readers. This is why I value your comments so much. After all, you do deserve people’s full attention!

HOW would it be for you to get to know me and experience the ways in which I can liberate you from what is currently obstructing you from creating an active, relevant and engaging blog that people want to read?

To create a blog vision and a 6-step plan to get an active blog off the ground for your business? To discover the 6 ingredients for your blogging strategy and take away the next steps for your blog?

I give you ONE hour of my time and my expertise for FREE
All I ask it a donation of EUR 30 to a good cause,
offering the poorest children of Zimbabwe 9 years of primary education.

It’s vital to be entertained too. I’ll often follow people not because I’m interested in their product/service, but because they are entertaining. Sometimes that comes in handy, because if someone asks me about this product or service, I’ll recommend that person. Similarly, I’ll give up reading people who may be very knowledgeable about their topic but whose writing is tedious.

Thank you for your great comment! Like you, Roy, I don’t want attention… what you do want is that your readers pay (more than superficious) attention while they’re reading your blog posts, so that they do react and take action.
Saskia
xx